Thank you, merci, gracias, arigato

Nine days have now passed since the official launch of my new project – HowToWorkOnACruise.com. I really didn’t have any expectations when I did the launch and as a result, found myself overcome with giggly excitement when the first sale was made less than 3 hours after introducing the product right here on this blog!

Now I could lie to you and tell you that I sold 193 copies of the eBook in the first four days, and you’d think I’m some sort of an internet income guru, but I didn’t! Not even close! However, I really couldn’t be happier at all as we have enjoyed consistent sales every day so far, with feedback that has continued to be nothing but overwhelmingly positive.

And who do I have to thank?

YOU.

So many of you helped support this project in ways you probably didn’t even realize and I cannot express enough gratitude to you.

While I know I’m going to miss a few people (and I sincerely apologize in advance), I’d like to give a warm and special thank you to…

  • Everyone who spread the word about this project on Twitter! There are simply too many of you to count and name, but I shall never forget how those supportive tweets ultimately led many people interested in working on board cruise ships to now have the information they need to make it happen.

 

THANK YOU FOR THE MENTIONS!

Over the past month, it also seems that not a few days would pass before a pleasant surprise came my way. And these surprises often involved the discovery that one of my posts was mentioned on another blog, something that leaves me amazed and shaking my head in disbelief each time it happens. When I first started this blog back in November of 2009, I never imagined that I would even receive a single comment on any of my posts, never mind a mention on the site of a fellow blogger that I admire!

With that said, I’d like to extend a most sincere thank you to…

  • Caz & Craig of the always informative YtravelBlog.com for including “The Food Stall on the Street Corner” in their list of “Best Travel Blog Posts for the week of August 23rd”
  • Dena at EvolutionYou.net for your generous support of my blog in your weekly “Carousel” series of posts
  • My good pal and fellow Indian food-addict Alan of The9to5Alternative.com and the always thoughtful Fabian of FriendlyAnarchist.com, for not only mentioning my post “Do You Shave Your Underarms Too?” on their blogs, but for actually shaving their underarms fully after reading the post. You did shave guys, right?

 

THANK YOU FOR THE COMMENTS!

As I mentioned above, I really never thought that my posts would generate enough interest that people would actually want to leave a comment. As a result, you can easily imagine my astonishment and the resulting childlike behavior, which involved running around in circles while clapping and howling as loudly as possible, when Angeline M left the first comment back on November 7th, 2009.

And here’s the thing. I still experience today that very same overwhelming excitement every time I receive an email notification that a comment has been left on one of my posts. EVERY SINGLE TIME! Granted, I no longer run around in circles, but I most certainly do clap loudly! I love that people want to leave comments here, not because I’m trying to set some kind of comment record, but simply because each comment leads to an interaction and it is these interactions that motivates me to continue writing and working on this site every day.

For those of you who have been visiting this site for a long time – including Jonny, Hugh, Dave & Deb, Rose, Liz, T-Roy, Derek, Laura, Andi, James, Jackie, Nate, Jennifer, Jen, Shannon, Ashley, Audrey & Dan, Raam, John, Lisis, Moon, Mark, Ayngelina, Michael, Simon, Jeremy & Dina – I truly thank you for your never-ending support!

And to every other person who has ever read anything on WanderingEarl.com, whether you’ve chosen to leave a comment or not, don’t think for one moment that I don’t feel incredibly fortunate to have you as a reader and in many cases, as a friend. I could not be more thankful for every member of this community!

THANK YOU FOR THE EMAILS!

To all those who have emailed me over the months with questions, comments or just to say hello, let me tell you that these interactions are immensely rewarding to me as well. I encourage you to keep the emails coming as each one I receive quickly leads to an abnormally large smile stuck onto my face. And for anyone who has ever thought about sending me an email, you should never hesitate for even one second. I’d be honored to receive your email and I’ll personally reply as quickly as I can, not out of obligation, but out of sheer interest it getting to know you and assisting you in any possible way.

And who knows, maybe our paths will cross one day…

I’ve already been most fortunate to have met such incredible fellow travelers as Shannon, Bessie & Kyle, Jodi, Audrey & Dan, Margo, Andy, Anil and most recently, Dani & Jess of GlobetrotterGirls.com!

Now that a new stage of my travels has begun, I’d love to meet up with even more of you if possible, so if you’re planning to be in the NYC area next week or even in the Middle East in the near future, let’s see if we can work something out!

ONE LAST THING!

I’d just like to say once again, and this is for absolutely everyone, whether you’ve been hanging around this blog for months or only a few weeks or even if this is your first visit here…

gracias, merci, danke, kop khun kawp, grazie, takk, toda, dhanyavad, terimeh kasih, dekuji, arigato, mahalo, shukran, go-map-sem-ni-dah, teşekkür ederim and THANK YOU

…for spending some time at WanderingEarl.com!